There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
Below some verses are given which clearly show that faith must at least involve things that are not seen. This is necessary to show that because so much of today’s so-called Gospel is about things that are seen. We try to present things as evidence to men as those things which can be seen. We try to present things to them that are easily understood. But the true preaching of the Gospel is about things not seen. The object of faith is not a physical Christ, but a Divine one that cannot be seen and has never been seen.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
Hebrews 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
Romans 8:24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
2 Corinthians 4:18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
1 Peter 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
Faith is in things that cannot be seen with the physical eyes, but instead requires a spiritual nature so that it is the spiritual eyes that see. Faith involves hearing with the spiritual ears and not just the physical ears. Faith involves tasting and seeing that God is good and not just with the physical senses. When we present physical things to the eyes of faith, it is the faith of the natural man and not that of the spiritual. Eternal things cannot be seen with the physical eyes and yet so much of today’s preaching and teaching is about physical things. This demonstrates the need for a preparatory work in and on the soul so that the soul can get beyond understanding all things in the physical realm. If the soul is not moved out of the physical realm, the soul will never have spiritual life and true faith. So when people refuse to teach people that they are unable to have Christ of themselves and of sovereign grace, they are leaving people to themselves and to their own physical senses and a false faith.
When we see things in this light, Luther’s position is seen as biblical rather than extreme. The soul must be humbled because God has promised grace to the humbled. Until a person mourns and despairs of self that person is not humbled. Until a person realizes that salvation is totally and utterly beyond his own powers and efforts, he is not truly humbled and reliant upon sovereign grace to work salvation. In other words, that person still relies upon his senses and his fallen reason to determine things for him rather than God. That person is not and cannot function by faith in the spiritual realm as long as he leans on his senses and fallen reason. It is by grace alone through faith alone that the soul is saved by Christ alone. Apart from the soul being humbled into the dust, it will not have grace alone and faith alone. Apart from the soul being delivered from all hope in self and all hope in the powers of the natural man and of the physical senses, the soul will not be saved. The soul must be thoroughly humbled in order to have faith in the spiritual realm and receive Christ by grace. Luther was absolutely right. Our day is wrong.
God Loves... Himself 
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